Two Unhappy Endings, One Unexpected Cure
by Candaru
Summary: The story of Splendorius ended happily... well, for the most part. For wildly different reasons, two people were left in the aftermath without much to look forward to. But when one of them follows a dark heartbeat searching for a new victim, they're surprised at who they find on the other end. (English Dub/GFDD; set post-finale; Mild Johnny/M.A. and Ira/Rachel; T for mild gore.)
1. Chapter 1 of 2

(A/N: Okay rapid-fire disclaimers real quick

-I binged all of Doki Doki Glitter Force because I lost a bet

-I never expected to get attached to these characters

-I DID NOT REALIZE THE ENGLISH DUB WAS ALSO HYPER-ABRIDGED FROM THE ORIGINAL

-I will be watching the sub soon and will then republish this fic with the Japanese names

**-Edit: I have started watching the sub and... will probably not be republishing this fic**

-I wanted to post before I watched the sub in case the sub disproves any of the lore I came up with for this fic

-PLEASE NO IRA/JONATHAN SHIPPING THANK U

That's all, I hope you enjoy!)

* * *

_"__Out of my way!" "There's a big clan catching up, I have to run!" "I'm not leaving y— OW!"_

_Children scream. The skies fill with black clouds. Other children swoop up to touch them and then scream as their playmates knock them out of the sky. Their screams turn into more clouds._

_"__Let go, what are you doing—?" "What's it look like I'm doing?! I don't wanna die!"_

_A young girl sinks her teeth into an even younger boy's leg. He shrieks in agony as a black mist is absorbed into her fangs._

_"__I don't wanna die, either! You promised! You promised!"_

_He's begging her. She ignores him. Her childish tears will dry, eventually. They'll have to. Her raven-black hair grows blacker as she sinks her fangs deeper._

_"__Hey, kid. Knock it off."_

_A low, gruff voice startles the girl. She pulls back and looks at the shadow towering above her. It's an adult. She screams and scampers off across the charred hill, looking for an easier, non-guarded target to attack._

_"__Y-y-you saved me—" "And now, you're in my debt. Get a move on. This way."_

_The boy follows the man. They've never met, but they have matching color schemes. They're part of the same clan. In fact, in just a moment, they will be part of the last clan. Faint voices shout behind them._

_"__What is that thing?" "IT'S A BOMB!" "HOW DID SOMEONE—" "GET OUT OF MY WAY—!"_

_An explosion blurs out the rest of the shouts._

_The boy looks back for one last time at the remnants of his home. His planet. His people._

_The man grabs a fistful of darkness out of the air and snaps his fingers. He never looks back._

* * *

Ira sat up in a hot sweat. He hated it when that happened. He needed a way to clear his head.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his fingers for a teleporting snap— then paused. He usually went to fly over the ocean when he was feeling stressed: the city lights that reflected on the turbulent waters against the dark night sky had always been a relaxing backdrop for venting his feelings. But the last time he had done that…

_Lightning strikes. A boy screams in pain as he falls into the waters below. Then there's kindness, gentleness, a pretty girl with shiny black hair._

No, he definitely didn't want a repeat of_ that _ordeal. He needed somewhere new to go. Somewhere fresh, with no memories. Maybe somewhere with a dark heartbeat… he was hungry, but more than that, he was bored. And a Distain wrecking havoc never failed to cheer him up. (Well, except when they got defeated by the Glitter Force. Those darned sparkly brats…)

It was decided, then. The small wings behind his ears stretched out as he closed his eyes in concentration, awaiting the familiar rhythm of a dark heartbeat. The wings pricked up as a faint sound grew stronger.

"Only a dimension away?" Ira commented to no one in particular. "It's my lucky day. Or night, as the case may be."

Then he snapped his fingers, leaving nothing but an empty park bench and a tattered blanket behind.

* * *

A stack of papers that had been a mile high only moments before was strewn across the desk. In fact, the entire room was cluttered with documents, files, and various knick-knacks with the price tags still on. And over it all, a pink-haired baby flew, laughing her adorable trademark laugh as the wind created from her wings sent the untidy room spiraling further out of control.

"Oh, no…"

Jonathan stepped into the room and immediately tensed up. His gaze moved rigidly from the papers, to the baby, to the spilled bottle of ink on his desk. It's covered up what used to be a shiny golden button.

"I leave the room for _one minute…"_

* * *

_A woman with a waterfall of long pink hair strolls into the room. A blond man with a bird on his finger is awaiting her at the other side._

_"__I leave the room for one minute, and you've messed up your outfit already," she teases. The man laughs._

_"__What? What did I do this time?"_

_"__You unbuttoned the very top button," she points out with a smile. "Unforgivable."_

_"__It was hot! Isn't that what buttons are for? To keep you warm when it's cold and cold when it's hot?"_

_"__Not quite, when the top button is symbolic of the royal family," the woman replies with a smirk._

_The man smiles and shakes his head. "I can never tell when you're joking with me, Princess."_

_"__Please. How long are you going to call me 'Princess?' Is that any way to address your fiancée?" She winks, causing a blush to rise to the other party's cheeks._

_"__W-Well, what am I supposed to call you? I can't very well address you by just your name in front of your father. We aren't married yet. And 'Princess Marie-Angelica' is a bit of a mouthful when I'm trying to reprimand you."_

_"__Then how about just, 'my love?'" the woman replies, a blush of her own coming on._

_"__My love…" The man gazes into the woman's eyes before he quickly averts them. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose that'll do."_

* * *

"Di-na?" The baby looked up innocently at her surrogate father. She grinned, oblivious to the shadow passing over his eyes.

"You need to fix this," he said, his voice hitching on his last words. "Right. NOW."

Dina's eyes wavered in unexpected confusion at the angry tone. Her mouth began to wobble.

"NO! NO CRYING!"

The toddler gasped as her father snapped at her. He'd never snapped at her. Never. He seemed to realize his mistake as he took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. There's just… a lot of papers. Would you help me clean them up? Please, Dina?" He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, but the child was clearly shaken. She nodded meekly and tapped at her chest without conviction, sending out a flurry of tiny hearts to lift the papers and put them back into stacks.

Jonathan sighed. "Thank you, Dina. I didn't mean to yell, I'm sorry."

He didn't mean to yell. He really didn't.

And yet lately, whenever that innocuous smile came his way…

A black spot of ink dropped off the desk, landing on a heart-shaped paper below.

"Why?" he mumbled to himself, watching the baby attempt to clean the mess it had made. "Why did it have to be like this?"

"Di-naaa!" The baby turned to him with a bright smile, unaware of what he was saying. He clenched at his heart.

"Ugh… what am I saying? Stop it, Jonathan, you're being selfish." He sighed as he knelt down to wipe up the dripping ink. He certainly couldn't force a toddler to clean up his entire office, even a magical one.

"No, I think you're right. Why should you be the only one without a happy ending?"

"AUGH!" Jonathan stumbled in shock, reaching up to touch the hot breath on his ear. Nobody was there.

"My, my. The prince himself, sporting a dark heartbeat? What a pleasant surprise." In the doorway, a boy with tiny bat-wings behind his hair smirked. Jonathan growled, clutching his chest protectively.

"You'll never get a Distain out of me, Ira. And I'm the _president,_ not the prince."

"Whatever. You think I care about politics? As if." The boy crossed his arms behind his head. "And I'm not going to make a Distain out of you… not yet, anyway, so you can relax."

"Yeah, right." Jonathan glanced behind him, making sure Dina was out of harm's way. "If not to make a Distain, then why did you come here?"

"Honestly? I was kinda bored," Ira yawned. "Oh, and frustrated. Can't forget that. Misery loves company, you know."

Jonathan clenched the handle of his sword, not breaking his gaze on the Mercenare before him. "So I've heard. After all, you Mercenares stick together and you all seem pretty miserable."

"Stick together? Hah! That's a good one." Ira spun around from his spot in the air and grinned down at the Splendorian. "We work together under orders. That's _it."_

"Well, your king's not around anymore," Jonathan pointed out, "so why are you and Marmo still working together?"

Ira stiffed, then glanced away. "Hmph. Thanks to you and your stupid _Glitter Force,_ food is pretty tight right now, so Marmo and I have called a temporary alliance to scavenge. That is all."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh. So sorry you're having trouble robbing corner-street grocery stores. Maya told me alllll about the incident from a week ago."

"Oh, the Ramen Noodle Distain?" Ira laughed at the memory. "That was fun! Broke college kids sure have a lot of pent-up anger and despair just _waiting_ to be let out." His grin lowered into confusion. "But… I'm not really sure why that's relevant."

"You just said you were tight on food," Jonathan replied, eyeing the area for possible backup. Ira was one for banter, sure, but not meaningless idle chat… there had to be a trap somewhere.

"Uh, _yeah_. Food. Dark energy. Not whatever you call those instant packets of deliciousness." Ira rolled his eyes.

Jonathan blinked. "Ira… that's food."

The boy cocked his head. For a moment, his confusion almost made his face look as innocent as Dina's. "Whaddya mean?" he asked in a flat voice.

"Ramen is food. And so is everything else in the grocery store that you tried to rob."

Ira blinked again. "Oh. Huh. Humans use that for energy?"

"Yes, and Splendorians— wait, can we back up to the part about dark energy? I thought that was just a power source," Jonathan said, narrowing his eyes.

"You say tomato, I say tomato," Ira replied with a shrug.

"Uh, you pronounced it the same way both times…"

"Exactly! They're the same thing!" Ira rolled his eyes, flipping around again in midair like an olympic swimmer. "Geez, you're a slow one."

"Sorry," Jonathan said, still untrusting of the Mercenare but remembering that positive replies always worked best on intended insults. "So you're telling me that dark energy is actually what you Mercenares live off of?"

"Not just that." Ira stopped moving and locked eyes with the president of Splendorius. "It's what we're _made_ out of. Take our dark energy away and we crumble into nothingness."

Jonathan felt himself slowly unclench his hand from around the handle of his blade. "You're kidding. That's… terrifying."

"What's terrifying is when one of us gets so low on energy that we can't stand up for ourselves and then the others consume us." Ira laughed, but this time it sounded… forced, unnatural. "Man, you Splendorians have such weak stomachs. You wouldn't have lasted a second watching what happened back before King Mercenare was set free."

Jonathan was absolutely, positively sure that Ira was distracting him from a trap of some sort. But he felt himself pick up Dina and take a seat behind his desk anyway, as if he were talking to a subject with a trivial issue about land ownership or the sort. "What happened?"

"Tch…" Ira looked away, and for a moment seemed ready to decline. But then his face suddenly grew serious, and he went on. "A massacre, that's what happened. We ran out of other creatures to snatch dark hearts from. The people grew restless without their king. No food, no orders, no purpose… they… _we_… all turned on each other. There was no other alternative."

"Alta'naive?" Dina looked up at Jonathan with concern, not grasping what she was hearing. He gently placed his hands over her ears, then looked up at Ira.

"You _ate_ each other?"

"Ate. Consumed. Whatever you want to call it." Ira blew a strand of hair out of his face. It was almost disconcerting, now, the expression he bore. He tried without much success to look indifferent while he described the events he remembered. "I was so young… and weak. I had to join a clan just to survive. It was a blow to my pride, but I didn't really understand pride that much back then, anyway. I even made a pact with a non-clan member." He spat on the ground, not noticing that Dina flew over to clean it up. "I was a fool. A fool and a coward. I actually trusted another Mercenare not to hurt me, even if it meant her own life… It was dumb. And it cost me. I would've died if Bel hadn't stepped in when he had."

"Bel saved you?"

Ira shot Jonathan a don't-interrupt-me-while-I'm-talking kind of look. "He enslaved me, more like. Made me his crony… I kind of got passed onto King Mercenare himself, once the darkness was freed and he took over the body of the King. But yeah, I was too weak to defend myself."

Jonathan was silent as Ira turned away from him. He was starting to think the reason the Mercenare hadn't told him why he'd come was because he didn't even want to admit the reason to himself.

"Bel, Marmo, and I… were the only ones left of our clan. There were… a few others…" The tiny wings folded themselves flat against the boy's head. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Stupid imposters… they deserved what they got coming…"

"Comwing?"

Jonathan looked up, startled, not even having noticed Dina leave his arms. The baby tugged on the dangerous boy's sleeve. He looked over at her with annoyance.

"It's nothing you would understand, you stupid brat," he scoffed, and promptly shot her with a gust of wind that did no more than hurl her backwards a few feet in the air.

"What about Distains?" Jonathan asked carefully, catching Dina and holding her tighter against his chest. "When you create them out of dark energy, aren't you wasting your food?"

"It's called a gamble," Ira shot back, glancing over his shoulder with weary eyes. "Like in cards, you have to put in a bet before you can expect to win anything back. When we use dark hearts to create Distains, we're sacrificing a temporary meal in the hopes that it will cause chaos and despair, creating _more_ dark energy for us to feed off of. Of course, there's not much point in gambling when your opponent is a bunch of filthy stinking _cheaters_ who can use a _royal straight flush_ whenever they darn well please…"

"I thought Bel said being called a cheater was a compliment to a Mercenare," Jonathan noted, craning his head to see if the drops of water on Ira's cheeks were just his imagination.

"I-It is!" he retorted. "For, uh, a Mercenare. Not for the Glitter Force. For them it's an insult. So I'm insulting them." He rubbed his eyes viciously before turning to stick his tongue out at Johnny.

"Uh-huh." The blond felt a sad smile tug at the corner of his lips. "You know, Ira… your veil is wearing pretty thin."

Ira cocked his head. "Huh?"

"Your disguise. Your facade. You act as if you hate the Glitter Force, and you usually do a pretty good job of it, but tonight your acting's a bit weak."

"WHAT?!" Ira huffed. "I DO hate them! Geez, you sound just like Glitter Diamond!"

"Ah, right." Johnny smiled and patted Dina's head. "That's the one you like, right?"

"H-huh? I do NOT like her! I don't like any of the Glitter Force! Didn't I _just_ finish explaining how much they ruin my life? Are you deaf or something?"

Johnny shook his head. "But that's exactly why you're upset, isn't it? You don't really hate the Glitter Force. But you _can't_ like them, because it's literally impossible for you to be with them. You _want_ to find it in your heart to hate them, but deep down, you know it's all an act because you actually l—"

"DON'T—!" Ira pointed a threatening finger at the well-dressed man. "—you _dare_ finish that sentence."

Jonathan put his hands up. "Fine then, I won't. But explain to me why you're here."

"I-I already told you that."

"Do you even remember what you said?"

Ira bit his lip, thinking for a moment. "I w-was bored."

"And frustrated." Jonathan stared Ira in the eye. "And because you were frustrated, you needed someone to talk to. 'Misery loves company,' after all. So you chose me."

"I didn't choose you!" Ira snapped. "I just followed the first dark heartbeat I found!"

"So you admit that you wanted— _needed_— someone to talk to."

Ira growled. His wings flared outward as his hands balled into fists. "Don't get so cocky. I could still create a Distain out of you, you know. Even though your heart's gotten… a lot… lighter…" He frowned as he stared into the man's heart, past what most people were able to see. "Wait, how's your spot of dark energy gotten so small already? It was huge when I arrived."

"Practice," Jonathan replied with a smirk. "Can't have the president of an entire world showing weakness, after all. The last king was overtaken completely by his own selfish desires. Imagine what a panic would break out if they thought the same might happen to their new leader! Hah!"

Ira stared as the blond man laughed and stretched out his arms above his head. "Um… that sounds like something a Mercenare would say."

Now Jonathan glanced up in confusion. "Mm? Which part? The part about causing a panic? Because believe me, buddy, that's not gonna happen." He set his face defiantly.

"No… the part about not showing weakness. It just sounds like something Bel would say, that's all."

Jonathan blinked.

"But I guess you're too high-and-mighty to be compared to him, huh? Do you _actually_ believe you can never show selfishness?"

The blond narrowed his eyes. "Yes. What kind of game are you trying to play?"

"I'm not playing a game! And if I am," Ira replied, suddenly swinging upside-down to engage Jonathan at eye level, "at least I'm playing fair. You still have a speck of dark energy right now. I could snap my fingers in a moment and your heart would be totally consumed by darkness."

"And then you'd create a Distain?"

"Or eat it. Either way, you'd never wake up unless it was purified. And undoubtedly, those doki-doki dum-dums would show up for that exact reason, and I'd leave weak and hungry." Ira scoffed. "So go on. You were saying you can never show weakness?"

"Weakness, selfishness, any of it. Nothing that would indicate that I had any darkness within me," Jonathan shot back, willing himself not to look away. "I'm the leader now. The entire people of Splendorius _depend_ on me— not to mention all the people who depend on me in the other world. I'm the successor to a king who's fallacies cost LIVES. That speck of darkness in my heart you mentioned? I'll SQUASH it!"

Ira raised an eyebrow as Jonathan slammed a fist against his desk.

"I've practiced for almost a YEAR now, getting rid of darkness! Any selfish thought that comes my way, I kick it to the curb! I'm the president, for goodness' sake, I live for the good of my PEOPLE! Not myself! Not my own vain ambitions! My PEOPLE!"

Ira studied the man's movements with fascination. His pupils had redacted, his heart _appeared_ pure, and yet his body was trembling ever-so-slightly in anger. "So basically… your life isn't your own? That's what you're saying?"

"That's EXACTLY what I'm saying!" Jonathan grinned, unaware that his every other motion was causing his facade to crumble, just as Ira's had. "My life isn't my own! It belongs to the people of Splendorius! Who cares if I have a selfish desire? NOBODY! That's who!"

Dina whimpered quietly, backing away slowly from both other parties.

"If I want something, I distract myself!" Jonathan continued. "I have stacks of paperwork high enough to last me a lifetime! And if I have to distract myself for the rest of my life, that's what I'll do! Because it's all up to ME now! I'M the one who has to keep my people safe! I'M the one who has to raise Dina! I'M the one who has to tell the citizens that everything is fine—"

"—even if you're just pretending," Ira finished.

Something in the room snapped.

It wasn't Ira's fingers.

"Tell me… **WHY?**"

Ira flew backwards in fear as Jonathan lept off the table, hurling a bottle of ink against the wall with a satisfying _CRASH._

"TELL ME WHY IT HAD TO BE ME!"

The Mercenare watched wide-eyed as the heart which had been completely pure only moments before was suddenly stained with rapidly spreading darkness.

"IT'S NOT FAIR! I NEVER ASKED FOR ANYTHING IN THIS LIFE, I WAS HAPPY WITH WHATEVER WAS GIVEN TO ME! I WORKED HARD FOR EVERYTHING I HAD, I WAS PERFECTLY CONTENT WITH MY LIFE! THEN— THEN I FOUND THE ONE THING THAT MADE MY WORLD LIGHT UP MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, AND I DEDICATED MY ENTIRE LIFE TO HER— TO KEEPING HER SAFE—"

The heart filled entirely black.

But it didn't stop.

"Jonathan—"

"—HER HAND WAS THE ONE THING I EVER ASKED FOR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? AND SHE SAID _YES,_ AND I SWORE THAT I'D NEVER NEED ANYTHING MORE THAN HER, NOT FOR AS LONG AS I LIVED!"

Ira was growing alarmed now. The darkness didn't stop spreading. It filled the heart, but somehow it still seemed to be pulsing out—

_"__Jonathan—"_

"I DIDN'T ASK FOR A PRINCESS, I DIDN'T ASK FOR A KINGDOM, I DIDN'T ASK FOR POWER, NONE OF THAT _EVER_ MATTERED TO ME! I ASKED FOR **LOVE,** IRA! **AND IT WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ME!"**

"JONATHAN! YOUR HEART!"

**_"_****_WHY DID EVERYONE ELSE GET A HAPPY ENDING BUT M—"_**

The heart cracked.

Dark energy poured out of his body as a waterfall of tears.

In a moment of pure, unadulterated instinct, Ira lunged forth and bit him on the neck.


	2. Chapter 2 of 2

(A/N: I've started watching the sub and... I had to make an edit to the disclaimers in the previous chapter, because WOW is the original show different! Better in almost every way conceivable, but different. Particularly in Jonathan and Ira's characters/personalities. So, I really don't think this fic would work as a "Precure" fic at all; it only works as a Glitter Force Dokidoki fic. Sorry if that's an inconvenience to anyone! Maybe in the future, I'll write a fic where the sub and dub characters interact with each other... that would be fun...)

* * *

"Ira _bit_ you?!"

Rachel's voice was near hysterical, and the other girls looked massively concerned. Jonathan waved his arms in haste.

"No, listen, it's not what it sounds like—"

"There's no need to defend a Mercenare," Mackenzie growled. "If he attacked you, trust me, we _will_ pay him back."

Jonathan shook his head. "He didn't attack me!"

"Well if you say he didn't attack you, I believe you, but in that case what in the world _did_ happen?" Maya exclaimed.

"Yeah, Maya's right!" Lance added rapidly from Clara's purse. "The guards said you were completely knocked out in your bed with bite marks, and nobody could wake you, too!"

"Lance, settle down," Clara said, stroking the pixie's head. "I'm sure Jonathan has a perfectly good explanation."

Jonathan breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Clara." He turned back to the others, all of whom looked ready to assume a fighting stance at a moment's notice. Mackenzie already had her hand on Davi, who'd turned into a glitter pad. "Listen, last night… I was being really selfish."

Rory looked up in disbelief. _"You_ were being selfish?"

Jonathan nodded. "Mhm. I even snapped at Dina, which I've never done in my life." He glanced over at the girl sleeping peacefully in the corner, a bubble of nighttime surrounding her crib. "I suppose that's what summoned Ira."

"And that's when he attacked you," Mackenzie filled in, narrowing her eyes.

"No! He didn't attack me! At first, I thought he was going to create a Distain out of my dark energy. He whispered in my ear and everything. But then…" Jonathan closed his eyes. "He just… talked. He started telling me about his race, the Mercenares."

"Really?" Maya looked genuinely intrigued. "What did he say?"

"Well, as it turns out, dark energy isn't just a tool they use to gain power, or even just their energy source. It's literally what makes them up— like cells in the human body."

Nathalie— who had been standing off to the side silently until now— looked up at this comment with wide eyes. "Come to think of it… when we went inside King Mercenare, we ran into a bunch of dark monsters that called themselves his cells."

Jonathan nodded. "And do you remember what happened when you defeated King Mercenare?"

Clara clapped her hands together. "I know this one! He turned into a tiny, bitty speck that couldn't harm a fly!"

"Until _Bel_ ate him like a crumb and unleashed yet another terrifying creature of darkness," Mackenzie added with a growl.

Jonathan looked at the girls gravely. "Exactly. That's what happened on Ira's home planet."

"Wait… you're not saying they…" Rachel gasped and put her hands up to her mouth. "_Ate_ each other?"

Jonathan nodded sadly. "They ran out of food— out of dark energy. Ira didn't specify much, but he said he was weak and would've died if Bel hadn't saved him at one point. They were part of the same 'clan,' which I think means some sort of alliance that weak Mercenares formed to gain safety in numbers."

The girls were strangely quiet for a moment. Finally, Maya spoke up, veering the subject a little.

"But, why did only the weak ones team up?" she asked. "Wouldn't everybody have been stronger if they worked together?"

"From the way Ira described it," Jonathan said sadly, "I'm pretty sure teaming up was seen as a disgrace among the Mercenares. And remember, they had no other way to get food. I'm pretty sure they have to spend a lot of dark energy to teleport to and from different dimensions, judging as how none of the Mercenares ever followed you or made a follow-up attack when you defeated one of their Distains. I mean, otherwise, they'd just teleport from person to person until you were tired out, right?"

Rachel looked down at the ground, seeming upset at herself. "I never thought about that before… and I'm supposed to be the smart one."

"Well, don't blame yourself, Rachel!" Maya retorted, throwing her arms around her oldest friend for comfort. "None of us have ever given much thought to the Mercenares, even me. And _I'm_ supposed to be the considerate one!"

Jonathan nodded. "I think that's why Ira came to me. He told me his story as if it were a campfire story or something, and he laughed whenever he brought up something really dark. But I finally realized why he came to me. He followed the first dark heartbeat he heard because he needed someone to talk to. He was frustrated and upset, but he didn't have anyone to vent his frustration to. He certainly couldn't come to _you _girls."

Even Clara looked sad now. "Poor Ira…"

"And… to be honest, that's kind of how I was feeling at the moment," Jonathan continued sheepishly.

"Huh?" Maya looked up, still hugging Rachel. "Don't tell me all that paperwork is getting to you."

"No… it's not that." Jonathan stole a quick sideways glance at Mackenzie. "I was just… frustrated that I was the only one without a happy ending."

The girls looked at each other in alarm. Jonathan took a deep breath, willing himself not to back out of the conversation.

"I… I'm the president of an entire world, I have more money than I even know what to do with except donate, and I'm raising the sweetest magical baby anyone's ever met. But I… I never asked for any of that." He clutched his arms and glanced away as his eyes filled with tears. "I only… ever wanted… to be with my love. I felt like… like my happiness was being sacrificed for everyone else's. But," he added quickly, "I pushed that frustration down. I thought I couldn't show any signs of anger or selfishness because the people of Splendorius would think I was a repeat of the last king."

"But that didn't work so well, did it?" Mackenzie asked. Jonathan looked over at her in surprise. "Hiding your feelings, I mean."

"No, it didn't," Jonathan confirmed. "Nobody ever noticed I was suffering, so it worked in the short-term, but what I didn't realize was that I wasn't truly getting rid of the darkness in my heart. I was just shoving it down, so deep that even Ira couldn't see it at first. But when I finally told him my true feelings, all of it came rushing out at once." He clutched his chest with mixed emotions in his eyes. "The strange thing is, at first, it… actually felt good. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders."

"I know that feeling," Rachel said. The other girls nodded in unison.

"But there was too much dark energy pushed down. Once it started coming out, I couldn't stop it. That's when things got weird." Jonathan took a deep breath, trying to put what he'd felt into words. "I couldn't see what was happening, but it felt like… like my heart _cracked._ I think it was breaking."

Nathalie looked up in alarm. "Your heart _cracked?"_

"Yeah. And stranger than that, I felt all the dark energy escaping from the crack, swirling around until it found a passage out of my body, which was my tears. They felt burning hot, but not in temperature… I don't know how to explain it."

"Ohh, that's so creepy," Lance commented, shuddering.

"That's when Ira acted," Jonathan continued, wishing to finish recalling the events as soon as possible. "But he _didn't_ attack me. I know because one, I'm not dead, and two, he was screaming my name while the darkness was overtaking me. I think he could see what was happening and realized I was in danger. But when that didn't work…" He closed his eyes for a long moment, then looked up. "This is what I've been trying to tell you. Kippy, Rory, Davi— do any of you sense a dark heartbeat in me?"

The pixies looked at each other. "Umm… no?" Rory asked. "Just a normal heartbeat."

_"__Exactly._ If Ira had been attacking me—" those words were kind of aimed towards Mackenzie— "—he could've just left my heart to break. Even if he were acting on an instinct of hunger, his first thought should've been to do what he's always done and _detach my heart from my body_ to consume it. But he didn't."

The girls' eyes widened as Jonathan looked up with a set face.

"Instead, he somehow sucked the dark energy _out_ of me, without touching my heart— something even he didn't know he could do. He wasn't acting on an instinct of hunger. He was acting on an instinct to _save_ me."

"Would you mind not making me look like a hero for two seconds?!"

Everyone turned and gasped at the sudden appearance of a new face. "IRA!"

"Sheesh." Ira glanced away. "It's rude to talk about someone behind their back, you know?"

"Ira," Jonathan said, smiling. "Sorry, but I couldn't invite you to the conversation if I didn't know where you were. You disappeared before the guards found me; they didn't even know you'd been in the castle."

"Hmph!" Ira stuck up his nose. _"Obviously._ Your guards aren't exactly fond of me. And anyways, I'd had my meal."

"And cured Jonathan," Maya added with a smile.

"That was a side-effect!" Ira huffed. "It's not like I was _trying_ to save him."

"Riiiight." Rachel winked. "So you just happened to discover a way to feed off his energy without hurting him. On accident."

"Wh— I— _YOU_ again! Gah, get away from me!" Ira shrieked and flew higher away from the group. Rachel giggled as Clara stepped up.

_"__And_ Jonathan was found safely in his bed, _not_ in the room where he'd fallen unconscious. Of course, I'm sure that was an accident, too."

"Th-that wasn't me!" Ira insisted. "The stupid toddler probably flew him back or something. Heaven knows she's got enough powers to."

"You know…" Jonathan noted. "I've noticed that you use a lot of odd phrases for a Mercenare."

Ira cocked his head. "Huh?"

"You say stuff like 'Heaven knows' and 'at least I'm playing _fair._' Those aren't your typical bad-guy phrases."

"I definitely did not say that last one."

"You definitely did. Last night."

"Oh yeah? Prove it!"

Maya waved her hands, smiling but looking nervously at the corner. "Shhh! Boys, boys, settle down! You're going to wake up Dina."

Ira glanced at the bubble of darkness where the baby princess lay. "Oh, so the cute little brat is here too? Geez, Jonathan, do you go _anywhere_ without her?"

"There! There you go again!" Kippy hopped up on Maya's shoulder, pointing an accusatory paw at Ira. "You just called Dina cute!"

"I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!" Ira put his hands to his head. "GAH! You dumb glitter-girls just don't know what's what, do you?"

"Glitter girls?" Rachel mused. "I actually kinda like that."

"Yeah, it's not so much an insult as it is a nickname," Maya added in agreement.

A happy cry from the corner woke everyone out of the 'argument.' "Diiii-na!"

"Oh, Dina's awake." Johnathan smiled and walked over to the crib, picking up the smiling baby. Then he turned around to face the band of kids. "Well, I'm sorry to leave so early, but I just dropped by to let you know what happened. I'm sorry for worrying all of you; the palace guards can be a bit… dramatic."

Maya whispered something in Rachel's ear, then held up a hand as he started to leave. "Johnathan, wait."

"Hm?"

"The five of us are actually having a sleepover tonight," she said, smiling at the other girls.

"NINE!" Rory huffed from Rachel's shoulder. Maya laughed.

"Right, the nine of us."

"An' Di-naaaa!" Dina added, flying over to Natalie, who caught her with a giggle. Jonathan smiled.

"Aw, well, it looks like Dina wants to stay. I don't blame her; a sleepover sounds fun."

"That's what I was getting to. Why don't you stay over as well?" Maya asked. "The more the merrier! Plus, Regina's spending the night with her dad, so we have more space than we usually do."

"Not that it doesn't get cramped with five people and four pixies," Rachel amended, laughing, "but she _is_ right. The couches downstairs are free; you could sleep there after we hang out and then rejoin us for breakfast!"

"Plus," Clara added with a polite smile but no-nonsense tone, "you can't tell me that it's healthy to stay cooped up in your office all the time. According to Sebastian's reports, you spend almost no time talking with your subjects unless they're bringing you more work to do. That's probably part of the reason you blew up like you did last night; you can't very well talk about your feelings to your friends if you don't spend any time with them."

Jonathan grinned at the Glitter Warriors' enthusiasm, but his smile fell short as he was reminded of the piles of papers on his desk. "I'd love to stay and spend time with you girls, but I'm afraid there's just too much work I have to do. Clara, I kind of get what you mean, but surely _you _get that all my papers aren't going to sign and file themselves. Trust me, I wish they would."

Before Clara could respond, there was a loud _snap!_ from above. It took the girls a moment to locate the source of the sound as Ira, who was floating with his legs criss-crossed and his eyes closed. He opened one eye nonchalantly.

"It's done."

"Um…" Jonathan looked around, half-expecting a Distain. "Sorry, what?"

"Don't make me repeat myself," Ira huffed, rolling his eyes. "It's done. Your wish is granted. The papers are filed. Whatever."

There was a very long moment of shocked silence before Maya leapt into the air fully high enough to grab Ira by the legs and tackle him down to the floor in a hug.

"OHHHHHHH THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" she exclaimed, absolutely disregarding any notion of safety. "YOU'RE THE BEST!"

"Ack! Hey, get off me!" Ira choked. "Hugging— too— tight— someone— help!"

The group of girls burst out laughing as Rachel dragged Maya off the boy. "Come on, Maya, don't kill him or Jonathan won't have a bunkmate."

"For once, thank y— wait, what?" Ira asked.

"Well, we don't want Jonathan to stay on the couch alone," Clara said in her never-wavering smile. "That would be a bit awkward, don't you think?"

"You are— you are _not_ convincing me to sleep over like some— some glitter girl!" Ira defended.

"Really? Rachel asked smugly, leaning in a bit too close for comfort. "You sure about that?"

"N-n-n-n-no!" Ira yelped, fighting the blush on his face. "I-I mean y-yes! I-I mean yes I'm sure no! O-or no I'm sure yes— GAH, STOP MESSING WITH MY HEAD!"

The pixies fell beside themselves in a fit of giggles as Rachel took the weakly-protesting boy by the wrist and dragged him over to the rest of the group, not loosening her iron grip when he tried to struggle free.

"Y'know, he could just teleport if he _really_ wanted to get out of there," Davi noted smugly. Rory snickered.

"Well, Dina seems happy about the arrangement," Natalie said, smiling at the clapping girl in her arms.

"Dina… an'… fwiends!" she exclaimed. Maya clutched her heart and pretended to fall to the floor.

"Aaaaugh, she's just too cute! She's attacking us with Glitter Force Sparkle Puppy Dog Eyes!"

Even Mackenzie stifled a laugh. "Get ahold of yourself, Glitter Warrior! What's rule number one of the Glitter Force?"

"Never talk about the glitter force!" the pixies piped up from their huddle.

"No! The other rule number one!"

Maya raised her hand from the floor. "Keep moving forward, no matter the pain or the obstacles put in your way!"

As the girls dragged the boys off to Maya's house, Jonathan and Ira glanced at each other.

* * *

_A man with now-tousled blond hair shoots a quiet kind of smile. He mouths the words, "Thank you."_

_A boy with turquoise hair sticks out his tongue with what he hopes is an angry glare._

_The sun is sinking slowly over the horizon, glittering off a multitude of wildly colored hairstyles and outfits. In the arms of a young brown-haired girl, a baby falls asleep._

_A consciousness behind the group smiles._

_She is watching._

_She will always be watching._

* * *

(A/N: This isn't even the first time that this has happened

me: I'm gonna write a fic about some people from two different ships interacting!

me:

me: oh no they turned into a brotp)


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